How to Get Ketamine Prescribed

If you’re seeking ketamine treatment, you’ll want to know how to get ketamine prescribed. The good news is getting a prescription for ketamine is fairly easy, the bad is that filling that prescription can be difficult and expensive.

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Can Ketamine Be Prescribed?

Ketamine can be prescribed by any medical doctor. However, as ketamine is only Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved as an anesthetic in a medical procedure, you can’t just walk into a pharmacy and buy it.

How to Get Ketamine Prescribed

As any licensed medical doctor can prescribe ketamine treatments, you can go to your family doctor and get a prescription. However, as family doctors do not typically perform the procedure, they will refer you to a specialty doctor or clinic. Referrals are filled out by your doctor and then generally faxed to the specialty doctor’s office or clinic. Referrals typically indicate what you’re being treated for and what treatments you have previously tried.

Once you have a referral, the specialist doctor or clinic will do their own assessment of you to ascertain whether ketamine really is the right treatment for you. Assessments are designed to ascertain information such as:

Your psychiatric history such as your current and past diagnoses, hospitalizations, suicidal behavior, etc.

Your social history such as your social supports and living situation

Your family psychiatric history

Your current and past medications/treatments

Your use of substances such as cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, etc.

Your medical history including experience with anesthesia

Some conditions may preclude a person from receiving ketamine treatment and some medications need to be altered or discontinued for ketamine treatments to occur.

People who should avoid ketamine treatments, according to Boston MindCare, a ketamine clinic, include: